Activists gather in Washington to protest Keystone XL Pipeline

About 60 environmental activists gathered outside the State Department in Washington, D.C., Monday to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from western Canada to refineries in Texas.

The protest and sit-in were held following the announcement that an Inspector General is launching an investigation into Environmental Resources Management (ERM), the contractor that drafted the latest environmental analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Recent revelations show that ERM failed to disclose ties with TransCanada, the foreign oil company seeking approval to build the pipeline through American soil, and the American Petroleum Institute.

"The State Department has been working to determine what’s in the oil industry’s interest, not what’s in the national interest,” said Becky Bond, who is the policital director for CREDO, one of the organizations that planned the protest. "The Keystone XL pipeline will accelerate climate change, and President Obama must make good on his climate promises by rejecting it."